We’re developing a web app that visualizes financial data. We have our first customer, but hope to get more. The terms are that
- the customers pay a setup fee, to customize the app for their needs
- the customers pay a monthly fee to license the app
- the customers install and host the app on their own servers
(Some details: the server just requires a simple node.js installation. There is no database required. Everything is easily installed via npm. All the modules used a open source.)
Our source code is not public, but it doesn’t need to be obfuscated or hidden from the customer.
My Questions:
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How should we distribute the source code to customers? GitHub seems logical, with the idea that customers just use git to deploy and update. But a customer should only have access to the source code with the customizations made for them – not for other customers. What’s a good approach to setting up repositories for distributing these different versions? Where do those live in relation to the development branch?
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How do we go about licensing the code?
That’s a big question. Hopefully not too big. Partial answers or links to articles are welcomed. Thanks…
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You need to have a separate branch of customized web-app project per each client. Because, it sounds like all your customization are done particularly for a specific client.
Example of licencing that might be good to look are listed below:
- How to Create Your Own Software License Agreement
- How to License Software
- CREATIVE COMMONS – might NOT be 100% applicable but good to know
- Software licensing in Wiki
Edit: Depending on your country of residence the software licencing may have different regulations. I would also strongly advice to contact a lawyer who is specialized in licencing matters.
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